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Maine: 8 women, including 2 children, have suffered FGM; ACLU opposes attempts to criminalize it

Jul 6, 2017 11:36 am By Robert Spencer

“The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Maine said FGM legislation is not worth expanding the criminal code. They released a statement saying, ‘This bill is nothing more than an attempt to single out behavior that is commonly attributed to certain religious and ethnic communities as different from other forms of abuse.'”

“Certain religious and ethnic communities,” eh? Which ones? And is this behavior acceptable when it comes from them as opposed to others?

Here is the “religious community” that approves of female genital mutilation:

“Circumcision is obligatory (for every male and female) (by cutting off the piece of skin on the glans of the penis of the male, but circumcision of the female is by cutting out the bazr ‘clitoris’ [this is called khufaadh ‘female circumcision’]).” — ‘Umdat al-Salik e4.3, translated by Mark Durie, The Third Choice, p. 64

Why is it obligatory? Because Muhammad is held to have said so: “Abu al- Malih ibn Usama’s father relates that the Prophet said: ‘Circumcision is a law for men and a preservation of honour for women.’” — Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 5:75

“Narrated Umm Atiyyah al-Ansariyyah: A woman used to perform circumcision in Medina. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said to her: ‘Do not cut severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband.’” — Abu Dawud 41:5251

“Do not cut severely,” but not “Do not cut.”

That’s why it is so common around the world, and why it is certain to become increasingly common in the United States, particularly with help from the ACLU, which doubtless wants to avoid appearing to be “Islamophobic.”

“FGM is being treated in Maine, and the state legislature shot down the bill that was trying to stop it,” by Caroline McKee, Circa, July 5, 2017:

Eight women in Maine have been treated for complications related to female genital mutilation (FGM), including two minors, according to 2016 MaineCare records.

Local FGM legislation has been introduced in states across the country, and in Maine it was presented by State Representative Heather Sirocki. Her bill would make it a Class B crime to perform FGM on a female under 18 years of age for non-medical purposes or for a parent, guardian, or caretaker to allow FGM to be done on a girl in their custody.

State Rep. Sirocki said, “We know that FGM has been treated here in the state of Maine because I have the MaineCare billing codes and information to prove it.”

The bill, LD745 “An Act to Prohibit Female Genital Mutilation,” had six amendments submitted from the state House and Senate, but ultimately failed in a 74-73 vote on June 23.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Maine said FGM legislation is not worth expanding the criminal code. They released a statement saying, “This bill is nothing more than an attempt to single out behavior that is commonly attributed to certain religious and ethnic communities as different from other forms of abuse.”

“Opposition has to do more with questioning my character, the character of some of the people supporting the bill, and our intentions and motivations as being related to a hate bill,” Sirocki said. “I would say to them they are correct – I hate child abuse. So if that’s their angle, I take issue with that, and would again strongly state that little girls are being horribly abused under the name of a cultural tradition that we do not support here in this country.”

“We believe FGM is a serious problem in Maine but believe that the solutions are not as straight forward as those proposed in the bill,” said Cara Courchesne, the Communications Director with the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault in a statement.

“Currently, many legal experts believe that FGM is already illegal in Maine, under the broader heading of aggravated assault (Aggravated Assault: “Bodily injury to another that causes serious, permanent disfigurement or loss or substantial impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.’)”…

“If it is happening, we want it to stop. And we want to send that clear message that we do not do that here in this country,” Sirocki said.

The Maine Prosecutors Association came out strongly in favor of this bill, to clarify and specifically identify this as a crime, with a clear level of crime attributed to both the person doing the cutting as well as the parents who are accomplices.

Originally seen as a developing world problem, the recent case in Michigan brought attention that FGM is happening in many communities across the United States. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health (OWH) dedicated part of a more than $6 million grant to the Maine Access Immigrant Network in Portland and Lewiston, Maine….

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Filed Under: Featured, female genital mutilation Tagged With: Heather Sirocki, Maine


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Comments

  1. Voytek Gagalka says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 11:54 am

    Thus ACLU is nothing else but completely discredited organization. They are not (and never were) “American” and most certainly they don’t stand for anything “civil” in civility. Civil “liberties”? Say that to those women (girls) who were FORCED to perform BARBARIC FGM!

  2. CogitoErgoSum says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    If this female circumcision is done to protect a woman’s honor then it is clearly also a “cheat” and there is no honor in it. I am reminded of the old Twilight Zone episode where a bet is made between two men that one of them can go a full year without saying a word. When the year passes the man who won the bet by not uttering a sound the entire time reveals to everyone that just before the beginning of the year just passed he had had his vocal cords cut, thus making speech impossible for him. It was a cheat and it was absolutely dishonorable. The same applies to female circumcision.

    • Vann Boseman says

      Jul 7, 2017 at 6:33 am

      Life is big, really really big. I think it should be noted a clitoris is bigger than a lot of people think. Much of it is internal and is close to the urethra. That is why there is a kink among some women of stimulating the urethra similarly to men seeking anal stimulation. I think that here most women who have had this happen to them could get around the barbarity of their parents were they knowledgeable of anatomy, were very interested in their sexuality, and had good imaginations. If the woman believes that FGM destroys her sexuality, then that alone might account for long term problems with sex. But life is big and full of possibilities.

      Also, you are right that it is a cheat, even if the cheat does not necessarily work. FGM for the reasons it is practiced reflects a lack of acceptance of the fundamental nature of humanity to me. To promote it to me would seem to be questioning the wisdom of the creators of humans.

      • gravenimage says

        Jul 7, 2017 at 8:27 pm

        I’m afraid the idea that a woman should just “work around” having her clitoris cut out is rather like chiding a victim of castration that he should just work around it, as well.

        • Vann Boseman says

          Jul 8, 2017 at 8:22 am

          I am sorry if you felt that I was chiding anyone. On review I do not see why you would say this. Concerning castration of a male, I am pretty sure you are mostly wrong. If the castration of the male consists of removing the penis and scrotum, then I do not believe that any work around is possible. I understand that erections may still be possible due to sexual excitation sometimes if only the scrotum is removed, but I do not know about orgasms. Involuntary castration or attempted involuntary castration is certainly an aberration of humans against humanity. But here, in the case of FGM, there is the anatomical reality that the bulk of the sexual organ remains and the reality that stimulation of the clitoris can be achieved in ways other than the typical approach. What better revenge on FGM can a woman have other than to have earth shattering orgasms throughout her life even though the ugliness of FGM was inflicted on her?

        • gravenimage says

          Jul 9, 2017 at 1:38 am

          OK, Vann–thanks.

          Personally, I want to see FGM ended–and that should start with our vigorously prosecuting this barbarism.

  3. John A. Marre says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    The ACLU is a communist organization. It wants Muslims to expand and gain power. It will do nothing to impede their growth or to criticize them in any way. The ACLU consists of traitors to this country.

  4. PRCS says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 2:56 pm

    Keep an eye on the Michigan FGM Doctors case.

    It appears that their lawyers are pushing a defense that as FGM IS a religious practice, it is protected by the First Amendment.

    • Guest says

      Jul 6, 2017 at 5:18 pm

      It would be good to have that tested in court and clarified that individual life, liberty and freedom are more important than religion

      • PRCS says

        Jul 6, 2017 at 8:53 pm

        Absolutely, and it does seem to be heading to that re: the Michigan situation.

  5. Terry says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 3:49 pm

    I think that the statement : “Currently, many legal experts believe that FGM is already illegal in Maine, under the broader heading of aggravated assault (Aggravated Assault: “Bodily injury to another that causes serious, permanent disfigurement or loss or substantial impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.’)”…

    And a minor child can file a complaint- (possibly a child not capable of understanding what has been done to her) charging a doctor (or whomever performs the “operation”) ( and might not know the name, anyhow, or location) AND HER PARENT/S AND/OR GUARDIANS?

    i think that these ‘legal experts” have their heads up their assholes, therefore they cannot see anything.

    I am curious of the party affiliation of those voting.

  6. gravenimage says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 3:59 pm

    Maine: 8 women, including 2 children, have suffered FGM; ACLU opposes attempts to criminalize it
    ………………………

    Does the ACLU consider mutilating children “freedom of expression” now? *Ugh*.

  7. Kessler says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 4:35 pm

    Wow – is that a picture from the 80s? Nice hair, lol

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 6, 2017 at 4:49 pm

      Kessler, Maine State Representative Heather Sirocki is trying to *stop* FGM. If she wants to wear a slightly outdated hair-style, I could not care less.

      She is a hero–and that looks pretty damn good to me.

      • StacyGirl says

        Jul 6, 2017 at 6:54 pm

        Thanks for the edification. Expression should not be any action which denigrates or disfigures an individual, especially someone under the age of consent. I look for FGM to be equated with male circumcision.

        • gravenimage says

          Jul 6, 2017 at 8:08 pm

          Whatever one thinks of male circumcision, StacyGirl, FGM is *much* worse. If male circumcision were like FGM, it would remove the entire glans of the penis, and make any sexual pleasure impossible.

  8. Phil Copson says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 4:39 pm

    “If you tolerate this – your children will be next….”

    Could anything signal the utter moral bankruptcy, dystopian depravity, and craven cowardice of the political and chattering classes better than this total surrender over FGM ?
    All these years of pretending that they are better than the rest of us, that they believe in womens’ rights, that they believe in protecting children, that they alone hold the moral compass of the world, etc etc etc, and suddenly – in the blink of an eye – they scrap all of that and don’t bat an eyelid at a form of primitive savagery that most people in the West had never even heard of until recently ?
    If any white Western parents had ever done such a thing, they would have been imprisoned for life as being criminally insane, and their names reviled forever more like those of the Moors Murderers.

    If politicians won’t defend helpless children from outright barbarism, then there is very probably no point at which they will take a stand. Is anybody keeping a tick-list of what has been introduced into the West so far without action being taken to eradicate it ? Hate-preaching ? Tick. Rioting ? Tick. Gang-rape ? Tick. Forced prostitution ? Tick. Paedophilia ? Tick. Public beheadings ? Tick. Car-bombs ? Tick. Ramming attacks ? Tick. Suicide bombings ? Tick. Honour killings (Dishonour murders) ? Tick. Benefit fraud ? Tick. Electoral fraud ? Tick. Jews being driven out ? Tick. Jews being murdered ? Tick. Interference with the judicial process ? Tick. Sharia Courts ? Tick. Slavery ? Tick. Have we had the first cases of homosexuals being flung from roofs or cage-burnings yet ? No ? Well, there’s always tomorrow…..

  9. plum says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 4:43 pm

    BETTER YET-

    if FMG is designed to curb female uncontrollable sexuality, menopause does the same thing

    why not give them all a hysterectomy….solve every problem

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 6, 2017 at 5:00 pm

      plum, you are not correct about the effect of menopause–although I do take your point.

  10. Troybeam says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 5:18 pm

    ACLU is for FGM: so I suggest that each female belonging to the ACLU undergo this procedure since they support it.

    • somehistory says

      Jul 6, 2017 at 5:33 pm

      Absolutely! Let the cutting, the pain, the mutilation begin! No meds to dull the feel of the dirty instrument, no oxy after to stop the hurt.

      Bring in the male members too and have some serious cutting take place. Without pain meds to lessen what happens and the aftermath.

  11. somehistory says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 5:42 pm

    Those tools of evil who claim there are already laws to prevent this are fully aware that this bill would assist in catching those who are engaging in the crime against these children.

    Those who fight it, claiming that there are already laws, are fully aware that this law would help. They don’t want that to happen.

    And this is not a protected *religious* practice either. It is sexual abuse of children. That is not protected, even by the freedom of religion.
    There are limits on the freedom of religion…anyone familiar with m.m. o’hare, the case of the little elderly lady who owned the flower shop, the couple who owned the bakery, the couple who owned the inn where marriages were performed….know that the Court has limited this freedom…when no harm or injury was being done to little kids by what those who had their religion under assault were doing.

    Freedom to live comes before freedom of religious practice.

    • StacyGirl says

      Jul 6, 2017 at 7:02 pm

      Excellent analysis.

  12. jewdog says

    Jul 6, 2017 at 9:02 pm

    There’s nothing civil or libertarian about FGM. It’s ironic that an organization that claims to represent civil rights is pimping for the most abusive and misogynistic fascists on the planet. They care more about being culturally non-judgmental than protecting innocent young women.

  13. Matthieu Baudin says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 12:36 am

    We don’t want more ‘ambulances at the base of cliffs’. Once its done, its done; there are no surgical corrective procedures on the horizon for the replacement of a girl or woman’s phallus (clitoris). What we need, in addition to tighter legislation, is a national campaign to single out Female Castration as a wholly preventable perverse social evil and as a violent assault on the inherent rights of children to ‘life and limb’.

  14. Islam the religion of killers says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 5:40 am

    Is this real ????

    You can go to jail for touching a woman clitorus, but you can avoid jail for the act of cutting a clitorus off, ???

    razor balde or kitchen knife >??

  15. Gordon Miller says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 8:15 am

    FGM is barbaric and should be illegal throughout the US even if it offends some Muslims.

  16. Creole Gumbo says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 9:07 am

    Lets just do away with all laws designed to protect children from parental abuse. If you can do away with this because it is part of a faux religion then do away with honor killings that also part of the same “religion.” You may as well just forget about protecting any child, regardless of religion or circumstances, from parental abuse.

  17. Frank Thiboutot says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 9:21 am

    All one needs to know about the ACLU was that it was founded by Roger Baldwin, an avowed communist.

  18. BL@KBIRD says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 10:27 am

    Last I looked the ACLU, muslims seemed somewhat over represented as members. Lawfare at its finest. I view them as the enemy.

  19. Troybeam says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 12:42 pm

    Perhaps people its time to look at Islam as whole: it’s violence towards non-Muslims, its practices that entail only to Muslims and its segregation in general, it’s lack of assimilation into societies in all nations where it resides, it violence towards women, children, it’s the victim in any situation, it’s the continued threat the West and our values, its own legal/judicial system known as sharia law, its invasion into any government/banking to bring forth sharia law and shove it down non Muslims throats etc etc….. So why do we here in the West tolerate this theocracy that in truth demands we bend in their direction and practices all the while excludes itself from our culture?

    Perhaps people we the people begin the campaign to have Islam removed from our nation by changing the status quo, No longer will Islam have religious status, it shall be returned that as in original immigration status: a threat to our culture. It not be allowed to practice its beliefs inside our nation.

    When you have a threat that will harm the citizens even citizens that follow said threat, the way to protect, defend and uphold your nation and laws is to remove that threat and all persons, landmarks and buildings that represent that harm.

  20. patriotliz says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 4:11 pm

    There you have it, Boys and Girls, ACLU will now officially be known as the “Anti-Civil Liberties Union.”

  21. Robert Wagner says

    Jul 7, 2017 at 4:40 pm

    What else do you expect of the ACLU? If it Islam it must be ok. What do you suppose the attitude of the ACLU would be in the Christian baker and the gay wedding cake, if the baker was muslim?

  22. D3F1ANT says

    Jul 10, 2017 at 11:24 am

    The sad thing about the ACLU is that they unabashedly champion the Leftist agenda…and THEN (if there’s time, and it doesn’t fly in the face of political expediency or the Liberal cause) they concern themselves with the actual defense of civil liberties. But only for those on the Left. Don’t expect them to do much defending of, say, the Second Amendment!

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